Archive for December, 2006
Moon over Prague
December 4th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Vee’s nephew David and his wife Sharon are on a break in Prague at the moment and David has sent me a wonderful photograph that I’d like to share with you. It is of the Tyn Church in the Old Town Square which hosts a Christmas market at this time of year. Christmas moonshine in […]
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)
Do you speak Globish?
December 3rd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Most of the people who visit this web site have English as their first language; apparently some 354 million people worldwide speak English as their first language. However, not all my visitors are native English speakers; around 1.5 billion globally speak English as a second language. I confess that this web site makes no concession […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
When did you last visit a museum or gallery?
December 2nd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
I do it all the time and it seems that increasing numbers are visiting museums and galleries in the UK because of the Labour Government’s policy of making admission free. In a “Guardian” article marking the fifth anniversary of the policy, it is reported that admissions have risen by an average of 83% over the […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
World AIDS Day
December 1st, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Around 40M people are living with HIV throughout the world – and that number increases in every region every day. In the UK alone, more than 60,000 people are living with HIV and more than 7,000 more are diagnosed every year. Today is World AIDS Day – an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Forgotten world (50): Mongolia
December 1st, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Inner Mongolia is a province of China, but Mongolia proper spreads out across 1.5 million sq km of the Central Asian plateau, while its population of only 2.7M is much smaller than the Mongol population of China. In 1990 Mongolia abandoned its 70-year-old Soviet-style one-party state and embraced political and economic reforms. Democracy and privatisation […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)